1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method, system and program product for managing windows in a network-based collaborative meeting. Specifically, the present invention allows a window for a target application to be viewed through a portion of a meeting application window so that both windows can be viewed at the same time.
2. Background Art
As the use of computer technology has increased, businesses and individuals are increasingly performing functions in an on-line or network environment. For example, today a group of individuals can collaborate on a project over the Internet. Such a capability alleviates the problems in collaborating that were caused by distance between the collaborators. To this extent, numerous software programs have been developed to foster collaboration over a network. Such programs range in functionality from providing audio and/or video communication between meeting partners, to allowing the meeting partners to share programs/applications between their respective computer systems. The latter of the two has become extremely valuable in network-based collaboration because it allows all meeting partners to view the same work product at the same time. For example, if meeting partner “A” is viewing and editing a document using a word processing program, and he/she decides to share the word processing program with meeting partner B,” meeting partner “B” would be able to view the document as it is being worked on by meeting partner “A.” Moreover, depending on the meeting software program being used, meeting partner “B” could even have the capability to edit the document his/herself.
Unfortunately, as helpful as these programs can be, they have various drawbacks. For example, window management has become a big problem especially on the host or source computer system. Specifically, when a “source” meeting partner decides to share an application with one or more “destination” meeting partners, the computer display of the source meeting party must accommodate both a window for the meeting application as well as a window for the shared program. Thus, one window must overlap another, or the source meeting partner must resize and/or reposition the windows. Either option is not very attractive because in the case of the former, both windows typically display information that is useful during the collaborative meeting. Thus, occlusion of either window could hamper the collaboration process. In the case of the latter, constant resizing and repositioning is a very inefficient and tedious way to collaborate. Moreover, if the source meeting partner maximizes one of the windows (e.g., the shared application window), the other window will be completely hidden from view.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, system and program product for managing windows in a network-based collaborative meeting. Specifically a need exists for a system that allows both a shared application window and a meeting application window to be simultaneously viewable without requiring repositioning or re-sizing of either window. A further need exists for the capability to resize either window without occluding the other window.